Police investigating death of man found in Elyria field

Elyria police and detectives investigate the scene where a body was found in a field on West Ridge Road in Elyria. BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE

ELYRIA — A farmer heading out into a field on Wednesday morning found a body amid the stalks left over from this year’s harvest.

Elyria police say the body was identified as a man in his 40s, but his identity has not yet been determined. An investigation into his death is under way — authorities have said he did not die from natural causes.

Police and crime scene investigators were called to the 8700 block of West Ridge Road after a farmer intent on plowing a field next to an apartment complex known as Evergreen Meadows came across the body.

Elyria police Capt. Chris Costantino said the body looked as though it had been in the field “for a while.”

Lorain County Coroner employees remove a body from a cornfield on West Ridge Road in Elyria.

The Lorain County coroner’s office removed the body about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, but county Coroner Stephen Evans said the frigid temperatures outside mean he will have to wait a few days before an autopsy can be performed.

Evans said the man did not die of natural causes.

For at least one man, the news brought up frightening reminders of his friend who went missing a few months ago.

“As soon as I saw the article, my heart sank … I immediately thought it was Jeffrey,” Jason Berger said of his friend, Jeffrey Cannon, 46, who was reported missing Sept. 30. Cannon went missing after a family issue, Berger said.

Though police have not yet identified the body, the news sent a shock through the community, especially for friends and families of people who have been reported missing.

Berger echoed the sentiments of people in similar situations after reading the news of the body in the cornfield on Wednesday.

“I think about Jeffrey all the time. He will always be in the back of my mind until I figure out what happened,” he said.